Burleigh Heads also seems sacred to surfers. This was the birth place of modern professional surfing competition. The first man-on-man competition was held here and the unique hollow waves are renowned throughout the surfing world. Today the sea was relatively calm, but as we had our morning coffee we watched the many surfers bobbing on the water, patiently waiting for the right wave.
A very pleasant 14 kilometre Gold Coast walk today provided us with a change of scenery from city and bush. We parked at the beach and began our trek from the northern entrance of Burleigh Head National Park. Lava flows from the Mt Warning area reached the sea here some 20 million years ago. Aboriginal people know the headland as Jellurgul and their stories tell of the rock formations being created by the ancestral figure, Jabreen. Burleigh Heads also seems sacred to surfers. This was the birth place of modern professional surfing competition. The first man-on-man competition was held here and the unique hollow waves are renowned throughout the surfing world. Today the sea was relatively calm, but as we had our morning coffee we watched the many surfers bobbing on the water, patiently waiting for the right wave. After our relaxing coffee we headed uphill on the rainforest circuit. Although a little strenuous, the path is excellent and great views are provided along the way. Once over the headland we crossed the Tallebudgera River and followed its southern shoreline for several kilometres before recrossing and following its northern bank. Many school groups from the Tallebudgera Camp were engaged in activities along the river and seemed to be having great fun. We crossed the river on a footbridge below the Pacific Highway and found ourselves in a street of quaint and quirky shops. The Organic Cafe and Store beckoned us in for a break and we had a lovely time admiring their decor and reading their fun signs. The next part of our walk was really lovely, past David Fleay's Wildlife Park, along the river on a boardwalk through mangroves and up over another hill in the Tallebudgera Conservation Park before winding through a few streets to get back to the mouth of the river. We made a final pleasant discovery before heading back through Burleigh Head National Park. The Jellurgal Aboriginal Cultural Centre is on the Gold Coast Highway near the southern entrance to the National Park and offers valuable insight into area and the custodial owners of the Gold Coast, the Yugambeh people. So, once again, we had a magnificent day exploring our land. Back near the car we found this note on the ground written on the back of a beer coaster. We well understood the sentiment. We, too, think "Arhh., Australia, she a good country."
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Leaving the park we headed towards Southbank along the boardwalk that meanders beside the river and under the cliffs of Kangaroo Point. We soaked up the glorious autumn sunshine and enjoyed the trail of art work along the way. (Click on the photos to see better.) The Southbank was ablaze with colour - purple bougainvillea, lush green gardens, blue waters of the swimming lagoon and red lanterns appearing in readiness for the upcoming Buddha Birth Day Festival (1-3 May) now recognised as the largest annual Buddhist Birth Day Festival in the world. A great new garden area now exists near River Quay. An ornamental and productive garden, known as Epicurious, was designed to educate and inspire the home gardener. All produce ready to be eaten is harvested and placed on a harvest cart and people are welcome to take as much produce from the cart as they like, free of charge. The scent of the herbs in the garden were delicious, especially the curry plant. Once we crossed the river we did a quick walk through the Wednesday farmers market at Reddacliffe Place, savouring a few samples of delicious foods, and then began our ANZAC walk in earnest.
Walking is hungry work, so now it was time for lunch. A short stop was made on the way to look inside the Cathedral of St Stephen and take a peek at the beautiful statue of Mary MacKillop, Australia's only saint, who worshipped here when she lived at Kangaroo Point. The sculpture is made from the rough timber of a one hundred year old camphor laurel tree. The best thing about a city walk is a city lunch. The Jade Buddha overlooking the Brisbane River provided a perfect lunch stop. You can't get a delicious burger and crack open a fine bottle of red in the bush. Well, perhaps you could have a bottle of red, but that would mean carrying it. After lunch we completed our circuit by crossing the Story Bridge and heading back to the cars parked near Captain Burke Park. Only one hill needed to be climbed, but after last week's mammoth mountainous walk, it was a piece of cake. Another superb day out walking and the 11 kilometres were a breeze.
Click on photos to enlarge. Today was by far our most gruelling walk to date - 18 kilometres of track, up and down steep hills around Lake Manchester. Lake Manchester is built on Cabbage Tree Creek not far above its confluence with the Brisbane River, and was constructed between 1912-1916. Its 26,000 megalitre capacity provided a reliable water supply to Brisbane until 1988, but now acts as an emergency supply in times of drought. We set off with our usual enthusiasm, expecting a gentle, scenic walk around the lake, blissfully unaware of the terrain that lay ahead. Little did we know that many hills lay in wait to sap our strength and challenge our stamina. The route uses forest/fire roads which are well graded, but a covering of loose gravel means caution must be taken on descents. The start was quite pretty, but soon got very hilly. We walked the circuit in a clockwise direction, which turned out to be a wise decision as the most strenuous part of the journey was through the first half while we were relatively fresh.
Most of the walk was through open eucalypt and ironbark forests with plenty of birdlife. Bellbirds abounded and cut the air with their clear calls. The lake was not visible for most of the time, but was lovely when it could be seen. We passed an empty hut and an empty camp ground along the way. Camping is allowed at the Blue Gum Flat camp site which is about half way around the circuit. This is a large flat grassy area surrounded by forest, but has no facilities. The final leg of the walk ran close to Lake Manchester Road where we were very happy to spy signs of life at last with some houses and farms coming into sight. Our tired legs took us back to the car which we had left at the picnic sight below the damn. We ate a very late lunch before heading home. The whole walk took us 5 1/2 hours. It was exhausting, but still a circuit well worth doing. The distance today makes a total of 142 kilometres of Wednesday walking this year, which would get us from Brisbane to Byron Bay if we tackled it in one go. At this rate we should travel the distance around Australia in about 25 years.
Last week we cancelled our Wednesday walk for the first time ever due to some very wet weather, but today was one of those awesome autumn days where the air has a special clarity and a whiff of winter came wafting in on a cool breeze. Today was a two part walk, starting at Coomera. Regatta Waters Lake is situated in the Damian Leeding Memorial Park beside the Coomera River and the 4k track around the lake is a pleasant easy walk, full of surprises, some of which were captured in the following pictures. It was a lovely walk and we enjoyed the scenery a little longer as we had morning tea beside the lake. We then walked across the bridge and followed a path along the Coomera River - eight easy flat kilometres in all. After eight easy kilometres we needed more of a challenge, so we headed to Nerang National Park and tackled some hills after lunch. Nerang National Park is an open forest environment, popular for mountain bike riders, bushwalkers and bird watchers, trail runners and horse riders. We found our challenging hills and turned over a few more kilometres on our pedometers, rounding off the day nicely with 13 kilometres covered in all. The Nerang National Park deserves a full day of walking with its many tracks, so we will make a return visit in the future.
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